Hard hitting journalism- gloves off and no punches pulled- about cartoons!

Monday, May 29, 2006

Animator Dies, Glad To Have Put In That Unpaid Overtime

Burbank

Animator Glen Q. McConnaghie, most notable for being responsible for the classic "peeling' sequence in "Monkeys In Banana Land", passed away at his drawing table Saturday. He was 73 years old.

Helen Woodchank, producer at WowToonz! spoke with us about McConnaghie's life and career.

"The last time I spoke with Glen, a few months ago, he expressed how happy he was to have been able to help out WowToonz! by putting in so many hours of unpaid overtime. His last wish was that I explain to the next generation that the only way to become as skilled as Glen is to animate as much as possible, for as many hours as possible. And to ease up on the coffee breaks."

McConnaghie is survived by his wife and adult children, who were informed about his passing this morning.

"It took us a while to find them." Ms. Woodchank continues. "They naturally assumed he was at the studio, cranking out another masterwork. Many times Glen would express his amazement at how quickly his children were growing up, getting jobs, careers and spouses, while he just sat at his desk working...working. Despite the fact that he felt his job was always teetering on the abyss, he was a real trouper."

"Glen did that sequence in "Freckle-face Francis and the Pea-Shooting Princess" where the Princess first hits Francis with a pea, and he falls on his butt. That was so funny! Glen missed his son's graduation for that one. But many times he told me that other animators should follow his example. He knew that we were just a small company finding our way, and that his loyalty would be rewarded some day. He was right. As soon as WowToonz! was acquired by GloboDynaTech Entertainment, he was one of the animators we didn't fire!"

"His last words to me were so sweet. He said, 'Helen- tell the other animators that it's worth it. We need to put in long hours so children can have the chance to watch fine animation like "Freckle-face Francis and the Flatulent Android", available on DVD this September, from WowToonz!"

4 Comments:

This is great news since it means WowToonz is hiring! They obviously need a seasoned animation historian expert to replace whoever this other guy was. I will be mailing them a carbon copy of my resume ASAP! Thanks for the tip...

I wanted to leave a thought about the career of Glen Q. McConnaghie. Glen McConnaghie was a personal friend that I had many meetings with to acquire some of his rare original art. His stockpile of work helped finance the expansion of Pernell Fine Animation Art Auctions into our new LA office.

Greg's sons Glen jr. and Riley helped clean out the remnants of his studio. We have found rare pieces from SunnyFun Studios "Cheery and Chase" series, full animation sequences from Finecorp Pictures "Top Hat Dog Jamboree".

I'm sure we'll find more treasures in the weeks to come. As a side note we did not uncover any pieces from WowToonz/GloboDynaTech Entertainment!, all of our WowToonz!/GloboDynaTech Entertainment inventory are from legitimate sources.

I've been asked to remind readers that any reference to, or visual representation of, intellectual property surrounding any conversation about Glen Q. McConnachie is copyright GloboDynaTech and its joint and several subsidiaries.

You know, Glen had an amazing quote that will resonate among all animation folks out there.

"I can't believe I worked so hard to master my craft, and worked so hard to stay in this industry, only to spend my days drawing bears and bunnies having tea parties."

I can't believe it either, Mr. McConnachie- and the subtext of your message rings loud and clear: It was totally worth it.